After presenting the five most popular Urbanartcore posts in 2011, I will now honor this year’s top ten urban artists! Of course it’s difficult to do that. There’s a massive count of highly talented urban artists out there around the globe and I’m pretty sure either that there are also some great street or graffiti artists I haven’t heard about yet. Nevertheless I gave my best and wrote together some of the most influential and popular names from both, the street art and graffiti scene. Here we go:
Roa
Belgian urban artist Roa is one of the major players in the international urban art movement! Being famous for painting fantastic, detailed, grayscale murals of animals, he traveled the world in 2011, visiting for example Mexico, Berlin and Perth. I’m pretty sure he is going to hit the streets around the globe also in 2012!
Aryz
Due to his unique, dreamy and sometimes crazy characters style and his highly trained skills in painting huge walls for example in Italy, Aryz nowadays is one of the most well-known urban artists around the world, what lead him to several painting actions and exhibitions like his latest in Barcelona! Definitely a must to know… aryz hello world
How & Nosm
Also Spanish-born twins How & Nosm attracted attention in 2011 by painting countless, beautiful murals. One of the latest walls they painted is that massive painting they created for L.A. Freewalls, brilliant! Keep them in mind - you will hear more from them in 2012, I’m sure. how nosm los angeles
Da Mental Vaporz
I’m a big fan of the French Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) crew for years now! Including some of the greatest European graffiti artists like Dran, Bom-K, Sowat, Jaw, Blo and others, the collective is in action throughout Europe, painting massive walls like here in Brest or Massy. Hope to see more from them next year… da mental vaporz mural
JR
After his great success last year, winning the 2011 TED Prize, French photographer and large-scale paste-up artist JR invested his popularity, connections and money to create new art projects like the Inside Out project, including really influential, political artworks… jr inside out
Vhils
Of course also Portuguese-born deconstruction artist Alexandre Farto aka Vhils has to be in this top-list. His explosion wall art has impressed people of all nations, for what reason there are several documentaries about him and also a new book featuring his brilliant works! vhils book
Herakut
This year, German urban artist duo Herakut did a great job again! Painting in Yekaterinburg, Newcastle and for the CityLeaks Festival in Cologne, they spread their creative voice far and loud and published their own book! Of course we will see some more of their nice artworks in 2012… herakut london mural
Blu
For years now, mural art master Blu is the unchallenged urban art hero. In addition to several walls he presented his own DVD earlier this year! Nothing more to say, except: Big up man! blu mural art
MadC
Also famous writer MadC had a great year again, presenting her own chair as a special highlight this year, she also had an own show in London! Hope to see some more during next year. madc london
Clemens Behr
Last but not least, it’s Berlin-based urban artist Clemens Behr who made it in this list. Behr used 2011 to travel the world, creating his dope cardboard-installations not just in Amiens, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and Malmo but also in New York, Barcelona and other metropolises! Make sure to keep him in view for 2012… clemens behr cardboard art